


The test of courage

by ReScripta



Category: Rango (2011)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReScripta/pseuds/ReScripta
Summary: In hope to become accepted by the other kids, Priscilla has to make a walk through the old city theater by night, without to know that a well-known gang uses this place for stolen goods.
Kudos: 1





	1. The city theater

It wasn't a good idea to walk through the desert. Much less by day. And more much less by night. And more more much less if you are a child. And despite everything, five little shadows walked through the desert moon light over the dry landscape. In their hands they held little oil lamps.

In near of a group of rocks they stopped.

"Here we are."

Cletus the raccoon kid pointed ahead.

Another little figure, with big eyes and big hat, looked at the direction of his finger.

"Is it that?" a girl asked unsurely.

"Are you afraid?" another boy's voice asked mockingly, which belonged to the city boy Dutch, a little wolf looking animal.

"I'm not afraid!" the girl Priscilla defended herself.

"Then go inside!"

With that Dutch thrust a glass with a lighted candle inside into the girl's hands.

The Aye-Aye girl looked around, where the curious and serious eyes of Cletus, Dutch, and the other city boys Boo and Lucky watched her.

Priscilla sighed deeply. It had been so frustrating that she was the only girl in town and nobody of the city boys thought that she would be as good as a boy. But they said, there would be a chance to win the respect from the others. And this was the old test of courage that you make a walk through the old city theater.

The city theater didn't lay in town. It was built a few miles away from Dirt. Mayor John used to start a cultural step. But with the time it didn't give good returns because of less good actors. Now it lay alone and abandoned in the desert without a visitor in the last many years.

It wasn't a nice place by day, and less a nice place by night.

"What are you waiting for?" Dutch asked impatiently.

"Alright, alright," Priscilla said and went ahead.

It wasn't easy to find the way over stones with that little candle in the glass. Not even the moon gave much light tonight. It was new moon. Not quite the right time for a night walk. The little light was only enough to see obstacles on her way.

At last, she achieved the building. With anxious eyes, she eyed the dark in the shadow laying big house.

She turned around. In the distance she could see the oil lights of the others.

Carefully she pivoted the candle to give them a signal that she was ready to go inside.

With heavy heart, she took the first step. The old wood groaned under her foot.

Carefully, she went upstairs until she reached the entrance, which had nailed up with some wooden planks. But the distances between them was big enough for a child and climbed through a hole.

She held the candle over her head to get an overview.

Thick dust covered the wooden floor. Next to her was the sale of tickets.

She took a deep breath and continued.

No long and she reached the main door of the hall.

They weren't blocked and she opened it.

A field of spider webs and more dust on the chairs greeted her.

With disgust, she went along the chairs to the stage. If she reached the stage, she should bring a souvenir behind the curtains to prove that she had been here.

She had almost reached the aim when a voice let her wince.

"Hey, look at this!" a man's voice said excited.

Her heart stopped.

She wasn't alone.

"You look ugly," another man said.

Two men?

She stopped and extinguished the candle immediately.

Now she stood in complete darkness. But there was another light behind the curtains of the stage.

She was afraid, but otherwise she wanted to know who forced an entrance into that building.

With fast but quiet steps, she ran over to the curtains and peered through it.

There stood a lot of stage walls. The voices and the light came from behind them.

She made a few steps more and managed to look around one of the wooden stage walls.

Again her heart stopped for a second.

"How do I look now?" the desert rabbit Stump asked.

His boss Bad Bill covered his face with a hand. "Like an idiot!" he said annoyed.

"Idiota!" Chorizo chuckled next to him.

Stump wore a king costume and a fake crown, which he had found in a costume box in the theater.

Priscilla swallowed heavily. What was Bill and his gang doing here?

"Take it off," Bill ordered. "Before I get nightmares."

"Alright."

With disappointment, the rabbit took the crown and disappeared.

The big lizard leader seemed to be impatient and tapped his foot on the floor.

"He seems to be late," he muttered.

"He said a medianoche," Chorizo said in English and Spanish.

"I know by myself," Bill grunted and picked something from a box. It was a diamond necklet. And some more blinking diamonds.

"I want to get rid of that away very soon," the leader muttered and let the nice shining stones fall on the wood back.

The girl's eyes became bigger.

These were the stolen diamond collection of a rich married couple which was robbed on their way in their stagecoach. Rango had talked about it last week.

Rango.

The girl made one step back.

She had to inform Rango about that.

Suddenly a hand covered her mouth, another one grabbed her torso.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The city theater is part of the online game "Rango - The world", which doesn't exist anymore, but you can still find some pictures of it in the internet.


	2. Bad timing

Priscilla screamed out through the hand gag. With panic, she hit the person behind herself everywhere from the belly to the feet. A loud groan and the person loosened his grip around her. The girl took the chance to run away, but a strong hand grabbed her arm again.

"Don't force me to hurt you, damn brat! (damn!)" somebody hissed.

The girl felt a hard pull and was pressed against a bigger body again.

With fear, she looked at Kinski's pained annoyed face. He wrapped his right arm around her, with the other one he rubbed his belly. He had never thought that a little girl can hit so hard.

"What's going on?" Stump asked.

Priscilla wanted to make a last try to escape, but Kinski had recovered from her blows and pinned her left arm on her back, with the other hand he closed her mouth.

"This happened," Kinski panted.

Then he dragged the struggling girl to the others.

The lizard and the mouse looked up with deep surprise when they saw Kinski coming with the girl.

"Look, we have a spy here," Kinski explained.

"Espía!" Chorizo spat with disgust.

Kinski put the girl on her feet in front of him.

The girl had stopped struggling and looked up at their leader.

Bill wasn't worried that the girl would be armed, but yet he drew his revolver and lifted her hat to look better into her eyes. The girl breathed heavily.

Bill gave Kinski a nod that he could put his hand off her mouth.

"You better not scream. Kapito?" Kinski warned.

The girl nodded.

Her first free mouth breath trembled against her will. Bill bent more down to the girl.

"Are you alone?" he asked the first question.

"Y-yes", she stuttered, because Kinski hasn't loosened his grab around her arm yet.

And the looks of the others didn't look exactly relaxed either.

"Well, well." Bill pushed his revolver forward so that it almost touched her chin. "Your sheriff friend is not around?"

She shook her head quickly.

"No! I should only be walking through the building here. The others did that as a test of courage."

"Who are the others?"

"The boys. The sheriff isn't here."

"A likely story."

"I swear!" she cried louder.

"Reminds me of my time with courage tests", Stump muttered amused.

"Shut up," Bill chided him.

"But the others aren't here," Priscilla tried again. "I'm supposed to go in all alone…mmmpf."

Her voice died when Bill put his hand on her mouth.

"What shall we do with her now, Bill?" Kinski asked.

The Gila monster stood up and looked down at the big eyes looking girl, where a little begging lay inside her eyes. She didn't know Bill's gang very well. But she knew they didn't like too nosy people. But what about too nosy looking kids?

"I did nothing", she reaffirmed.

"Shut your trap," the Gila monster ordered.

He seemed to think about the unusual situation. It would be an easy answer for the question to shoot a sheriff, but he had never thought about a girl.

Finally, he waved his hand.

"Put her away. After business, we will decide what we should do with her."

"Who wants to do that?" Kinski asked.

"The one who is asking," Bill chuckled.

The others laughed.

With grumbling, the rabbit tugged the girl away. He looked around until he found something for his assumed work. He tugged her more behind the stage. Priscilla winced when she realized some big plastic water bottles in a corner, which had covered with a blanket. Maybe more stolen things. Possible that this place was used for them as a little hiding place.

"Come here", the rabbit ordered without to let her go.

With one hand he held her arm, with the other he fished for some ropes, which lay in a chaos somewhere.

"Turn around."

She obeyed, and Kinski forced her arms on her back, where he tied them together.

The same with her legs.

After he was sure that she couldn't run away, he left her and brought some towels.

"Listen, little thing, we will make a little hiding game now. You don't move and say nothing and nothing will happen to you. Verstanden?"

She nodded.

Kinski smiled and patted her cheek. "That's a good girl."

Her pleading eyes were the last emotional thing what he saw before he blindfolded her. Finally, he wrapped a towel around her mouth to make sure that she couldn't cry for help.

Then he carried her in his arms and brought her to a little storeroom with cleaning tools. Then he closed the door and blockaded it with a chair.

"I think he is coming," he heard Chorizo saying.

"It's about time," Bill muttered annoyed.

"Maybe we should greet him outside…"

"That's not necessary," a strange man voice said.

In surprise, they turned around. Not far away stood a little cat in a dark trench coat and dark Panama hat. He was a kind of jaguarundi, and looked at the four gunslingers with yellow cat eyes.

"How did you come in?" Bill asked with distrust.

"My men showed me the way, which you went."

More than five little varanids appeared next to him. They wore the same clothes like him. With piercing glances, they eyed the western group very watchfully. Their long black tongues tasted every smell in the room.

Bill hid a chuckling smile. They looked like they would come from the mafia or what else.

Anyway. His only focus was the money, the rest could be all the same to him.

"Do you have what I wanted?" the cat looking animal asked inquiringly.

"Of course. Here you are."

He handed the diamond collier at the bandit.

The trench coat cat held it in the light to make sure that it wasn't a fake.

He nodded to a goanna next to him.

"Scan the area. Make sure nobody else is spying us."

"W-why this?" Stump asked. "There is nobody else."

"I don't know," the strange looking jaguarundi said calmly but seriously. "With such an unusual sheriff in near, I'm not sure. If the justice knew about my business, that would be bad for my reputation. You guaranteed me full discretion."

"Of course," Bill agreed darkly. So much discretion, that he still didn't know his name. Maybe some of a rich moneybag, which had so much dirt under his feet that other law loyal people didn't know.

One of the varanids came back and whispered something to him.

The pupils of the cat narrowed.

"Well, you said, nobody beside you would be here?"

"Uh… yes," Stump muttered very quietly, and won a kick against his leg by Bill.

The gang leader stood there with firm posture and said a clear: "Yes."

The jaguarundi narrowed his eyes in a dangerous way. "And what's that?"

All four men turned around. Not far away stood one of the varanids with a struggling tied Priscilla in his hand.


	3. Black theater

The four gunslingers stood there like frozen, still staring at the girl who hung in the air.

The Aye-Aye couldn't see anything because of the blindfold, but she heard, the strange voices weren't very friendly. Including the harsh grasp of the goanna who cramped his claws around her bound hands.

"Th…that's… is…" Stump didn't know what he should answer.

"That's a part of our merchandise", Bill said quickly, trying to keep his imperturbability in his voice.

His friends looked at him with big eyes.

"Merchandise?" Chorizo asked and scratched his head.

"Yes!" Bill confirmed. "We wanted to sell her on the slave market."

Chorizo wanted to ask whether his boss was serious or not, but he just won a kick of the lizard and he closed his mouth again.

But the cat looking animal in trench coach wasn't happy about this explanation.

"I don't like witnesses," he said in a calmly dangerous way.

"But she can't see you," Stump said and won a kick by Bill again.

"But she can hear!" the jaguarundi said. "I don't need ear witnesses, too."

He gave the goanna a cutting sign with his hand, and the lizard understood. But the gunslingers understood that sign, too.

The girl seemed to know what he wanted to do and screamed in a whimpering way, when the goanna wanted to take her outside.

"Hey, you can't do that," Kinski protested.

But the rest of his words froze when the varanids aimed their guns at him.

"Did you want to say something?" the cat asked calmly.

"No…. I…."

He looked for help and stared at Bill. But the gang leader didn't seem to have an idea, too.

The goanna was almost gone, when Bill dared to open his mouth.

"Hey! Do you really want to sully your hands with her?"

The goanna stopped. The cat narrowed his eyes.

"We could take the work out of your hands."

"Why so generous?" the jaguarundi asked.

"Why so leery? We know a good place where we could recycle her corpse. The sheriff is a smart guy. I know him very well and he finds out a lot of mysteries around. Believe me, he could find out what you have done. Do you really wanna take that risk?"

The cat rubbed his chin.

"Alright. But you make it here and now." The jaguarundi pointed at the floor. "In front of my eyes."

The Gila monster shrugged his shoulders. "No probl'."

"Bill!" Kinski grabbed the lizard's arm and pushed him aside. "I can kill everything," Kinski hissed at him. "Maybe except puppies - but not a child!"

The gang leader narrowed his eyes. Meanwhile the goanna came back with the quiet wailing child in his hands.

"I will do that," Bill said and turned away from the speechless rabbit.

For a little moment Bill disappeared and came back soon with a gun in his hands.

Then he grabbed the girl by her tied hands and dragged her with him.

"Where do you want to go?" the cat animal asked.

Bill looked back. "I don't think that you wanna hit by a bullet, do you? I will do it over there. If you want, you can clap applause after that."

The big lizard felt how the muscles of the Aye-Aye tensed.

Priscilla wasn't very afraid about death. Mr. Black had told her a lot of stories about the afterlife. But it was never her wish to die so soon. Especially not after she had met someone like Rango. Her eyes became wet behind the blindfold. She had hoped to hear so many adventures of Rango in her life. But that time would never happen now.

Bill stopped on a free place between the stage things for the stage.

He put the girl on his bounded feet. The others watched how the Gila monster bent down to the girl and seemed to whisper some words to her.

Then he walked backwards a few big steps away from the girl. Priscilla stood there with dropped face. Wet spots on the blindfold still visible. Because of her gag she couldn't speak a last word. Bill released the safety catch of his revolver.

Kinski, Stump and Chorizo watched the scenario with big eyes. Bill's face showed nothing. Just stone-cold muscles. He aimed the weapon at the girl.

Then he fired. Three times.

Kinski wanted to scream, but held his hand over his mouth, without noticing that he almost bit into it.

The Aye-Aye girl stumbled one step backwards. A muffled cry escaped her gagged mouth. Then she sank to the ground.

Shortly after that, Bill left his shot place and bent over the girl.

The jaguarundi didn't care about that and waved at a goanna. "Check her."

"I think, she is dead enough," Bill said.

The Gila monster held his hand over the girl who had filled with blood. The red liquid dripped over the girl's clothes and soaked the fabric with its deep red color.

Stump thought he had to fall, but Kinski and Chorizo managed to keep him standing.

Bill had lifted the upper body of the girl and threw it on the floor again.

"Don't forget my money," he said when he was cleaning his red hands on a towel.

The cat animal nodded and reached for a little bag. He threw it to Bill and they disappeared as fast as they had come.

There was a silence. A very cold, black silence.

The only sound was the running roadrunners of the cat mafia outside. Then the silence came back again.

Kinski stood there with open mouth, Stump leaned against a clothes-stand and Chorizo didn't know what to do. But all three looked at their leader, who was busy counting the money in the sack. Finally, he closed it.

"At least the price was right."

Only now he seemed to realize their consternation. He put the money away, then he put the hands in his pockets and looked around. "What?"

Kinski didn't dare to speak it out.

"You… you shot."

Bill snorted. "Yes, I'm also angry about myself that I shot three bullets for nothing. I guess, you owe me three new cartridges now."

He took his revolver and opened the magazine in annoyance. Then he seemed to remember about something and turned around. "Rizo, pick her up."

He nodded with his head at the blood covered girl on the floor.

"Pick her up?" Kinski was still dumbstruck and raised his hands in desperation. "Did you understand, that you killed a child?!"

The Gila monster rolled the magazine of his gun calmly.

"In this case, she would be the first one who died with that."

He threw something through the air. Kinski caught it automatically.

It was a little bottle with an old label.

"Stage blood?"

Quickly the three ran to the girl, who still didn't move. Bill watched them with a track of disgust on his face.

"You can stand up now," he ordered darkly.

With a quiet moan, Priscilla started to lift her head. Because of her bound hands and feet, it was difficult for her to sit up.

Quickly Kinski and Stump pushed her hands under her arms and lifted her up. The girl had some efforts to keep standing on her feet. Kinski grabbed for her blindfold and removed it. Priscilla's blinking eyes proved that she was still alive. Unharmed, but still a little filled with shock.

With heavy footsteps, Bill walked up to her. Then he drew his knife and kneeled down to her.

She stiffened when the blade touched her between her neck and upper body.

"Listen, little girl," he said with a serious and emphatic voice. "I'm tired of wasting my bullets for you. And I don't want to clean my parer on my shirt."

He added the pressure on her small body. Suddenly a cold smile played over his mouth. "And I advise you to avoid such childish tests with such evil little boys. That can be unhealthy for a little girl like you."

The Aye-Aye girl winced when the cold blade touched her left cheek. A claw of Bill's reptile nails lifted her chin. "I think you will behave like a good girl, won't you?"

She trembled, but she nodded.

Suddenly Bill grabbed her right shoulder and turned her around. The girl felt some cutting movements and some pulling on her hands and feet.

Shortly she was free, Bill pushed her away and she stumbled on the floor.

"And now, disappear! I don't wanna see you here again!" the Gila monster cried at her.

Quickly the girl stood up and ran away as fast as she could.

With snorting, Bill put away his knife.

Like paralyzed, the others watched how the girl disappeared. Then they looked back at him.

Bill crossed his arms.

"Don't ask me why!" he shouted. "I don't wanna hear one question of you, alright?! Or I cut your throats!"

The others shook their head wildly. Nobody dared, despite all. Bill turned around and went away.

"Do you think she will keep her mouth?" finally Stump asked.

Bill crossed his arms on his back. "We should change our hiding place, just to be on the safe site."

"What a shame," Kinski muttered. His knees were still like butter. "I became homelike with that."

"Idiot," Bill railed.

Chorizo chuckled. "¡Idiota!"


	4. Succeeded

As fast as she could Priscilla crossed the stage hall and the entrance corridor. While running, she ripped the gag down from her mouth and threw it away. With relief, she breathed in the fresh air of the desert and filled her lungs. It was dark outside, but it didn't matter to her. She stumbled over stones, but she didn't care, too. Her only wish was to leave that place. The memories of the almost-dead situation let her shiver.

After a while she stopped and breathed heavily. Her mind was empty. A rustling sound let her wince. Did the bandits come back?

With a silent scream, she took a new run up. She thought nothing at the moment, just about to follow her instinct which guided the way to the town.

Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her.

The Aye-Aye girl screamed and tried to escape.

"Priscilla!"

The familiar voice echoed through her head and she froze.

Gently the hands turned her around. "Little sister."

In the light of the lamp Rango's face appeared.

Still panting the girl sighed up.

But in the next second, the face expression of the sheriff transferred to horror.

"Good lord, what happened to you?!"

First Priscilla was still like paralyzed and didn't know what the chameleon meant.

But when he touched her clothes, she remembered.

She looked down over her red soaked uniform.

"It's just ink, no blood", she explained.

Rango rubbed some red liquid on his fingertips and sniffed.

She realized his relief, but then a question burned on her lips.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Rango found out of his relief.

"The boys talked me, that they saw some strangers walking into the house and later they heard shots."

Priscilla silenced.

"How did you come up with the idea to go inside that house by night?", Rango rebuked. "And who shot?"

Priscilla's eyes wandered back. "Uh… just a few wild tourists."

"Tourists?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Rango folded his forehead and bend more down to her.

"Is that all what you want to say? No more?"

Their glances glued at each other.

Finally, she opened her mouth. "No."

She realized his doubt.

"It's nothing, Rango." She gave him a smile. "Everything is alright. There is no need to worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

She threw herself forward and embraced him. "I'm just glad, that you are here."

With confusion Rango rubbed his head under his hat. "Well then. Alright."

He stood up. "Well, come on. I will take you home."

With that, he picked her up and put her on his roadrunner. After he had taken a seat behind her, too, he looked over to the theater with rumination.

"And you don't think that I should take a look into the house?"

"No… not today. Please."

Her eyes were big. A few seconds the chameleon looked at her. Then he nodded.

"Alright."

He took the reins and the roadrunner started to move.

"But do me the favor and don't make such silly tests of courage anymore in the future. Alright?"

"But I had no other choice," she said, but she changed the topic immediately. "Do you think I succeeded?"

Rango sighed. "After all that I saw the boys with shocked faces, I'm sure you succeeded absolutely. Especially if they see your colored dress."

He made a little break before he spoke on.

"Whoever had it done to you, he seemed to be a nice citizen."

She forced a smile. Nobody could say whether she guessed it or not, but Rango had already realized the red hand prints of that Gila monster on her shirt very well.

**\- The End -**


End file.
